Archives for February 2016

I challenged myself this afternoon. I wanted to see if I could make a deep dish pizza in my 12″ cast iron skillet. I suppose I knew I could – I just wondered if what I ended up with would be worth eating. To see what would happen, I found a few recipes online that had varying descriptions of what I should do. I chose one from AllRecipes. I also decided that I should go ahead with the most basic of pizzas, meaning, I was only going to add tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese. I didn’t want to dive too deep with tons of expensive toppings. Perhaps next time.

The Recipe

The recipe I prepared is okay. I wouldn’t say it’s anything to write home about, though, because of it’s plainness. The sauce is stellar – I happened to make some using my tomato sauce recipe. I think the pizza recipe is a good base and with some tweaks, I could possibly turn it into something wonderful. The pan has height to it that wasn’t used, so I’m comfortable adding lots of toppings in the future, or even more dough. I’ll show you the photos I took during this adventure and then some final shots. If you’ve ever made a really good deep dish pizza this way before, please leave me a comment down below so we can have a conversation. I’m truly interested in your wisdom.

Step-by-Step Instructions

If you decide to follow these instructions, please be aware that there are many optional ingredients to include. I wanted to test out this recipe before going further, but if you are already comfortable with homemade pizza making, please feel free to add toppings, herbs and spices. It’s of my humble opinion that the more toppings, the better. As a wise man once said, “Those who eat more toppings on their pizzas are generally smarter and better looking than their counterparts.” Really, it’s true.

Proof the Yeast

Since this recipe calls for active dry yeast (as opposed to instant yeast), it needs to be proofed. Proofing is done to wake the yeast up and to test it to be sure it’s alive. If you’d like to learn about the difference between active dry yeast and instant yeast, I can suggest this great resource:

Place 1 1/4 cups of 110 degree water in your mixing bowl (use a thermometer). Then, add the 1/2 teaspoon of brown sugar to the bowl and stir it until it’s dissolved. After that, add the 2 1/4 teaspoons of active dry yeast to the bowl and stir that in as well.

Allow the ingredients in the bowl to sit for about 10 minutes and then check to make sure that a foam has formed on the top of it. If it has, proceed with the next step. If it hasn’t, you may want to try new yeast. You may have an issue. Also, if the water is too cold, you might get some strange results.

The yeast I used is good.

Add Flour & Mix

With the mixer on low and locked in place, begin adding the flour to the yeast mixture. You’ll want to add it slowly so it mixes evenly. Go ahead and add 2 cups of all-purpose flour and mix until everything is dispersed.

After that, add the garlic seasoning and 4 tablespoons of softened butter to the mixing bowl. FYI – I used some garlic seasoning I picked up from Sam’s Club a while ago. Don’t be picky here. It’s simply used to give the pizza crust some flavor.

Mix those ingredients in. When complete, slowly add the remaining 2 cups of flour to the mixing bowl and mix for about 5 minutes until the dough is elastic.

Now, I can tell you right now that you’ll most likely never get perfect dough results from the quantities you use from a recipe. You’ll almost always need to modify it in some way. You’ll either need to add water or flour. In my case today, the dough came out of the mixing bowl far too dry.

To deal with this, I removed the ingredients from the mixing bowl, added some water to the dough and kneaded it by hand. Not very long after, I had some perfect deep dish pizza dough. I shaped it into a ball for the next step.

Let Dough Rise

In a large bowl, add one tablespoon of pure olive oil. Then, add the ball of dough to the bowl and coat it entirely with the oil. Finally, place a piece of plastic wrap over the top of the bowl.

Let the dough rise for about 1 hour. The perfect temperature for this is 70 degrees.

When the dough has about doubled in size, push it down and let it sit for another 20 minutes.

Make Tomato Sauce

While the dough is rising and resting, go ahead and prepare the tomato sauce. You may use this recipe to do so – it’s very good.

Pre-Heat Oven

At this point, you can pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees.

Assemble Pizza in Skillet

When the dough is finished resting and the sauce is made, you can assemble all the parts for the pizza. First, add 2 tablespoons of pure olive oil to the skillet.

If you want, you can swirl the oil around so it coats the bottom and the sides. I found that right after I added the dough, it pushed the oil where it should be.

Add the dough to the skillet and stretch and push it around with your fingers until it has made its way to the sides.

Be sure to push some up the sides to create an edge to the dough. I’m sure you can do a prettier job than I did.

Add the 1 cup of tomato sauce (or however much you like) to the top of the dough. Spread evenly until you have a 1 inch border left.

Finally, add the 1 cup (or however much you like) of mozzarella cheese to the pizza in the same fashion as the sauce.

Cook Pizza

Once your oven is warm to 400 degrees, go ahead and add the skillet to the bottom rack for about 25 minutes. You’ll need to keep your eye on it to make sure the timing is perfect. You’ll want to wait until the cheese begins to brown nicely. When it does, remove the skillet from the oven and brush some extra-virgin olive oil around the crust. Then, place the skillet back in the oven for another 5 minutes.

The Final Product

I think the pizza looks pretty good. Of course, it could be a heck of a lot better with some toppings, but for a base recipe, it isn’t bad. I’m going to make some tweaks and write a brand new recipe. When it’s finished, I’ll post it here.

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If you told me I’d be making homemade ravioli two months ago, I wouldn’t have believed you. It’s crazy how far I’ve come in such a short time. I already put together a really nice fettuccini alfredo dish and today, it was some tasty squash ravioli with an awesome hazelnut butter sauce. And these aren’t any of those weeknight recipes that are whipped up right before dinner either. These are truly legit. To say that I’m proud of myself would be an understatement.

I’ve decided that I’m leaving the America’s Test Kitchen online cooking school. Not because I’m dissatisfied, but because I want more. I’ve made it almost all the way through their Italian Cooking course and from what I can gather, I’m ready to head out into the real world to dabble with some different types of recipes. Luckily for me, America’s Test Kitchen has a cluster of websites that offer over 1,300 recipes that were constructed by either professional chefs or real recipe creators. Many of the recipes that were coming up in the cooking school are on these other sites. The good news is, the cost to join these other websites as a member (to get recipe access) is much less expensive than the cooking school. Now that I know the basics, I can step on the gas.

One of the websites is called Cook’s Country. Give it a visit and take a look around. Perhaps you’ll be interested in joining too. In my opinion, it’s worth the money because each recipe is very thoroughly written and oftentimes, it’ll offer accompanying photos. The recipes aren’t the condensed versions that are available on so many websites out there. Each one really does teach a lesson. I think I can learn a lot.

The Recipe

Today’s recipe comes in three parts. The first part is the ravioli filling. That’s a treasure in itself. Now, if you choose to follow along with what I write below, I want you to remember that when it comes to these types of fillings, the sky’s the limit. My mind has been spinning all day with different ideas for what I can put in this style of pasta. For now, we’ll keep it basic and stay with squash. Cheese and herbs are what I’m thinking about for next time though.

I already covered the instructions for making homemade pasta. When I put this recipe together this afternoon, it was my third time making fresh pasta. I can tell you that it gets easier and easier every time I crank that handle. The best part about it is the ingredient list: 2 cups of flour and 3 large eggs.

The last part is the sauce. It’s super easy and takes just a few minutes to prepare. When it’s poured over the ravioli, it looks great and tastes even better. Trust me, I loved taking the photos below and I loved eating the dish even more.

Ingredients

Serves: 4-6

Pasta

To prepare the pasta, please read this post. You’ll need it for this recipe. The pasta is to be rolled into sheets. I’ll explain what to do with it down below. I also advise making the pasta after the filling is complete. This way, you won’t need to store it and protect it from drying out.

Sauce

Step-by-Step Instructions

If you’ll notice, there isn’t an overwhelming amount of salt in this recipe, which your heart will thank you for. There is, however, some butter. If you’re on a strict non-fat diet, please take caution. If it’s any consolation, it’s divided up six ways, so it isn’t all that bad.

Prepare Ingredients

Lately, I feel like my middle name is mise en place. If it can be prepared beforehand, I think it should be. I always go through the entire recipe to pull out any task I can take care of ahead of time and do just that. With this recipe, things weren’t any different.

The first thing I did was to separate out one tablespoon of brown sugar and set it aside.

Then, I measured out 1/8 teaspoon of ground black pepper.

After that, I measured the 1 tablespoon of dried sage.

I grated 1 cup of Parmesan cheese.

I measure out the chopped hazelnuts. I didn’t have to chop them because they came this way.

When I sliced the tablespoons of butter, I kept 4 tablespoons in one bowl and 8 tablespoons in another. This made life easier when it came to include them in the two different parts of the recipe that called for these amounts.

When that was finished, I shaved 1 ounce of Parmesan cheese.

And finally, I peeled and cut the half medium sized butternut squash into 1 inch cubes. I put the cubes into a microwave safe bowl.

Cook the Squash

This part is really easy. The squash should already be in the microwave safe bowl. Cover the bowl with a piece of plastic wrap and place it in the microwave for 10 minutes on high. The squash should be soft when it’s finished, meaning, a fork should easily slide into it.

If it isn’t soft enough, cook for a few more minutes until it is. I want to offer a word of warning here: the bowl will be hot inside the microwave. Please use gloves or a towel to remove it. It’ll also steam when you peel back the plastic wrap. Do so with care.

Add Ingredients to Food Processor

Go ahead and add the cooked squash to your food processor. Also, add 4 tablespoons of the unsalted butter, 1 tablespoon of the brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and a pinch of ground nutmeg.

Now, process until smooth. If you get lucky, this will take about 30 seconds. I had to stop a few times because some of the squash and butter was floating on top of the rest. I moved things around a bit and continued until it was finished.

Transfer to Bowl & Mix

When the squash is smooth, transfer it to a bowl with a rubber spatula. Once that’s done, add the 1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese to the bowl, along with the 1/8 teaspoon of ground black pepper.

Mix it until it’s well combined and then chill in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.

Believe it or not, the filling is finished.

Prepare Pasta

Using this post, I put together 1 pound of pasta dough. I divided the dough into 6 pieces, just like the recipe instructs. When 1 piece was rolled into a sheet, I added the filling to only that one. I kept the other 5 pieces covered with plastic wrap until they were needed, so they wouldn’t dry out. I found that this method is easiest and won’t stress you too much.

The continuation of the instructions below assumes that you have the pasta dough made and that one sheet is laying out in front of you on a flat surface.

Place Filling on Pasta

With the pasta sheet out in front, add 1 teaspoon sized dollops as a line at its center. Each dollop should be 1 1/4 inches apart from one another.

Fold & Cut

When no more dollops can fit on this first sheet of pasta, go ahead and fold the sheet in half, length-wise. Then, press down everywhere the filling isn’t. The goal here is to seal the filling in so it doesn’t leak out when the pasta is cooking later on. Don’t go nuts, just seal in the filling. Starting to look like ravioli, isn’t it?

Once that’s finished, trim the long edge of the pasta with a pizza roller or knife. Also, cut a line between each mount so each ravioli is separate from the others.

Repeat the above steps with each sheet until you either run out of pasta or you run out of filling. I ran out of filling first.

Storing the Raw Ravioli

I attempted to store the ravioli I cut in a large bowl with some all-purpose flour sprinkled here and there. That idea didn’t work. The raviolis stuck together and made adding them to the water an activity I’d like to avoid in the future. The best method of storing ravioli of this type is to sprinkle flour on a baking tray and then add the ravioli to that. Then, cover everything with a damp towel. That should make life much easier come cooking time.

Add Ingredients to Skillet

For this part, I used my 12″ All-Clad skillet. I added the 1/4 cup of chopped hazelnuts, the remaining 8 tablespoons butter, the 1 tablespoon of dried sage and 1/4 teaspoon of regular table salt.

I heated everything on medium-high until the butter turned light brown. To accomplish this, I continuously stirred the mixture for about 3-5 minutes.

Once it was finished, I added 2 teaspoons of lemon juice and removed the pan from the heat.

Boil Water, Add Pasta & Cook

At this point, go ahead and boil 4 quarts of water in a large pot with 1 tablespoon of regular table salt. When that’s rolling strong, add half of the ravioli. Reduce heat for a gentle boil and wait 1 or 2 minutes for the raviolis to float. When they do, remove them with a slotted spoon and place on a serving plate. Then, cook the other half of pasta the same way.

Cooking fresh pasta really doesn’t take long at all. There’s a huge difference between fresh and dried pasta that you’ll taste when you sit down to enjoy this dish.

Add Sauce & Serve

If you’re going to bring the entire serving plate to the table, go ahead and add 2 tablespoons of the ravioli cooking water to the sauce and mix in well. Then, add the sauce to the serving plate, top with the shaved Parmesan and enjoy. Personally, I finished the sauce the same way and added the ravioli to a few bowls. After that, I added the sauce and cheese directly to them.

The Final Product

Here is the finished dish. Awesome, if I don’t say so myself. I highly encourage you to give this one a try.

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Back when I shared the Frittata Lyonnaise recipe, I warned you that I was going to be getting into cast iron a heck of a lot more than I have. Well, here’s the second recipe I’d like to share. I’ve actually prepared this dish quite a few times in the last couple of months. I found a great version of it over at Never Enough Thyme that looked really good. I put it together and took photos during the entire process. Unfortunately, I used some really old skillets I recently picked up at an antique mall that didn’t look so hot on camera. They desperately need to be seasoned. Since then, I purchased two new Lodge 8″ skillets, so I figured I’d give things another go. Today, everything turned out well.

Cast iron skillet breakfasts are awesome. You can get really creative while putting them together and, from personal experience, I can tell you they are extremely filling. When I prepare any breakfast like this, I always make a few extras. I now have six skillets, so make more than enough isn’t an issue at all. Laura and I eat one each and I save the rest in the refrigerator. Sometimes, things are even better the next day. Yes, I do love leftovers.

The Recipe

Once you prepare this recipe, you’ll most likely remember it forever. That’s good because you can shift ingredients around to suit your tastes. For instance, the recipe I used called for butter. I used olive oil instead. It also called for egg whites. I used whole eggs. I know these are trivial changes, but just think of the possibilities. Instead of one type of cheese, use another. Add tomatoes. Use sweet potatoes instead of Yukon golds. It goes on and on. As long as you understand the timing of how these ingredients cook, you’ll be putting together recipes before you know it. You’ll probably even write a cast iron cookbook. Two of which, by the way, I’ve already picked out. Stay tuned for more on that. Life is going to get crazy once I have them in hand.

Step-by-Step Instructions

This recipe takes under a half hour to prepare. While the potatoes are initially cooking, you can work on other things, so time will move quickly. To complete this dish, I used three 8″ cast iron skillets. I’ve used larger cast iron, but never any other material. I don’t think anything else would turn out so nicely.

Pre-Heat Oven

Since it won’t be long before you’ll need to get your skillets in the oven, go ahead and pre-heat your oven to 475 degrees now.

Coat Skillets with Oil

Place 3 teaspoons of pure olive oil in each skillet.

Be sure to coat the entire bottom and about half way up each skillet with the oil.

Shred Potatoes

For this recipe, I used Yukon Gold potatoes that were grown right here in Maine. I took the 6 medium sized potatoes and shredded them completely using a box grater. I placed them into a large bowl.

Add Eggs & Stir

After I had all the shredded potatoes in the large bowl, I added 4 teaspoons of pure olive oil to it. I also added 2 large eggs right on top of the potatoes.

After that, I seasoned with regular table salt and pepper. Finally, I stirred everything together until it was thoroughly combined.

Add Potatoes to Skillets

Since the potatoes were ready to add to the skillets, that’s what I did. I divided the ingredients three ways and poured one portion into each skillet.

Now, I feel as though I should tell you something here. When placing the potatoes in the skillets, be sure to press them down and make the edges higher than the center. Eventually, you’ll be adding eggs to these ingredients and you want those eggs to stay in the center. You don’t want them rolling to the edges. Eh hem. Yeah, I had that happen. Now, when I prepare something like this, I shape the potatoes like a bowl inside the skillet. Take a look at this next picture so see what I’m talking about.

I don’t know if you can see it or not, but where the potatoes meet the cast iron is higher than it is in the center.

Put Skillets in Oven

When the oven is heated, go ahead and place the skillets inside. Cook for 15 minutes.

Chop Onion & Pepper

Since you now have some time, you can chop the 1 medium onion and the 1 medium red bell pepper.

Cook Onion & Pepper

For this step, I used one of my larger cast iron skillets. Please feel free to use whatever type you have. Type isn’t important here.

Add 1 teaspoon of pure olive oil to a skillet and add the chopped onion and pepper as well.

Cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until onion and pepper are somewhat softened. When they are soft, you can season with some salt and pepper if you wish.

Remove Skillets & Add Ingredients

When the 15 minutes have passed, remove the three skillets with the potatoes inside of them from the oven. Divide up the softened onion and pepper and add them on top of the shredded potato. Do not turn off heat in oven.

Once the onion and pepper is situated, shred about 1 ounce of sharp cheddar cheese on top of the ingredients in each skillet.

Bake Once More

At this point, go ahead and place the skillets back in the oven for another 2 minutes. This step is meant to simply to melt the cheese. Also, please be sure to keep a well at the center of each skillet for the egg to sit in. Again, you don’t want them rolling to the edges of the pan during the next step.

Add Eggs & Cook

Once the 2 minutes have passed, remove the skillets from the oven and add 2 large eggs to each one.

If you’d like, season with salt and pepper.

Once the eggs are in the skillets and they’ve been seasoned, place everything back in the oven for another 7-8 minutes. You need the egg whites to cook through while keeping the yolks runny. This is a tough step. Just keep your eye on things and prod with a fork to see when it’s finished.

The Final Product

After the eggs are cooked, you should have something that looks like this.

These things are so good. I could make 100 of them. Perhaps I will. Enjoy!

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I was talking to Laura a few days ago when I said “You know, I’m starting to like all this cooking. It gives me a feeling of control.” What I was referring to was the control I’ve given myself to measure what type of ingredients I put into my body. For years (and still today somewhat), I was forced to look at the nutrition label on the back of a box or a can. Increasingly, there’s no need to look at a label anymore. Parsley is parsley and cream is cream. If I don’t want to include salt in a recipe, that’s up to me. There’s been less and less hunting around the grocery store for something that fits my lifestyle. It’s refreshing.

The reason I bring this up is because today’s recipe plays very well with whatever it is you may have in your mind. You can choose to add more or less of a particular ingredient if you wish. You can even include something that’s not called for at all. Personally, I tossed some ground black pepper in the flour that I used to make the pasta. I thought that would be neat, and it was. I’m not sure if it added any flavor, but it opened the door for some experimentation in the future.

The Recipe

Today’s recipe is a fast one. You’ll need to make some fresh pasta if you want to go that route, but the sauce can be completed in minutes. I highly suggest adding this recipe to your bag of tricks because it’s almost as pure as they come. With the small number of ingredients and the quick cooking time, it’s not one to be missed.

Ingredients

Step-by-Step Instructions

I’m not going to include instructions for making fresh pasta in this post. If you’re looking for that, you can click the link in the previous line. I encourage you to go for it if you’ve got a pasta machine. It only took about 20 minutes for me to make today’s batch. I was chatting the entire time, so it really didn’t seem like long at all.

Prepare the Pasta

I’m getting used to this homemade pasta thing. It’s a simple alternative to store-bought pasta and it’s extremely inexpensive. Sure, it’ll take 20 years to make the money I spent on the pasta maker back, but after that, I’m golden.

I’ve been seeing photos of fresh pasta that looks like the above picture all over the place online. I figured I would get in on some of the action. I think these little nests look great. The only issue I found was that after the pasta dries somewhat in this position, it doesn’t necessarily like to loosen up when it comes time to cook it in the water. I had to nudge it along with my wooden spoon. Eventually, it came apart.

If you look closely, you can see all the tiny specks of pepper inside the strands of pasta.

Again, you can use store-bought pasta for this recipe or you can follow the directions in the previous post to make fresh. Whatever you decide to do, this is the time when it needs to be finished.

Grate Parmesan

Go ahead and grate the Parmesan cheese. You’ll need about 1 cup. Store it for later use.

Boil Water

Fill a large pot with 4 1/2 quarts of water and bring to a boil. Add 1 tablespoon of regular table salt to the water for flavor.

Simmer Cream & Butter

In a large skillet (I used my 12″ All-Clad), add 1 1/3 cups of the heavy cream and the 5 tablespoons unsalted butter. You’ll want to individualize each of the 5 tablespoons so they melt evenly.

Once those ingredients are together, bring everything to a very gentle simmer over low heat.

Once the butter is melted and the cream is simmering, remove the skillet from heat.

Add Pasta to Water

Whichever pasta you decided to go with, go ahead and add it to the water now (once it’s boiling) and cook it until it’s just almost al dente. There’s going to be a bit of further cooking later on, so you don’t want to overcook it now.

Also, right as soon as the pasta is ready to be removed from the heat and drained, dip a measuring cup in the water and pull out about 1/2 cup for later use. You may need it.

Drain Pasta

When the pasta is ready, drain it in a colander.

Add Ingredients to Skillet

After all the water is drained from the pasta, dump the pasta into the skillet that has the cream and butter in it. Also include the Parmesan cheese, 1/3 cup of cream, 1/2 teaspoon of regular table salt, a pinch of pepper and a pinch of nutmeg.

Simmer Fettuccini Ingredients

The goal with this last step is to reheat all the ingredients as well as to thicken the sauce. Cook everything over low heat and mix for a few minutes until the sauce comes together. If it gets too thick, add some of the water you saved from cooking the pasta. That water is already warm and flavored from the salt. Once the sauce has thickened, go ahead and plate the fettuccini alfredo.

The Final Product

Here we are. A nice bowl of fresh, homemade fettuccini alfredo. It’s actually quite good and wasn’t much trouble to prepare. I’ll definitely be making this one again. I’d like to thank America’s Test Kitchen for this recipe. It’s the second to last one I’ll be putting together from the Fresh Pasta section. Next up, raviolis.

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I finally made it. For the first time in my life, I made fresh pasta. I can tell you, it wasn’t difficult at all. Actually, with my new Atlas pasta machine, it was really easy. So easy, in fact, that I made some pasta, cooked it and then ate a bowl of it. Of course, I didn’t prepare any sauce to go with it, so all I tasted was the pasta itself, combined with a bit of butter. It was good though and I’m excited to have crossed this threshold.

In this post, I’ll cover the few simple steps it takes to make homemade pasta. There are only two ingredients, which is surprising. Armed with a food processor and a pasta machine, you’ll be eating homemade in no time.

The Recipe

This recipe will only take about 30 minutes to put together. The nice part is that if you’d like to make more than what I’m about to describe, it’s not a problem at all. You can simply add to the ingredients and your prep time will only increase marginally. Regarding the ingredients, I’m almost positive you have them in your kitchen as I write this.

Ingredients

Serves: 2-3

2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
3 Large Eggs

Step-by-Step Instructions

I told you there wasn’t much to it. Now, I’m sure I’ll be adding something more fancy as time goes on, but for now, this is all I needed.

Pulse Flour in Food Processor

After adding 2 cups of all-purpose flour to the food processor, pulse it a few times to be sure that everything is loose and ready for the eggs.

Add Eggs

After the flour is well mixed, add 3 large eggs to the food processor.

Mix Eggs & Flour

Mix the eggs and flour together by turning the food processor on for about 30 seconds.

Now, this is where things can get a bit tricky. If you take a look at the photo above, you can see that my dough looks like small pebbles. That means it’s too dry. To fix this, I had to add water and combine once again with the food processor. I added water at the rate of 1/2 teaspoon at a time. When said and done, I probably added a whole tablespoon.

The food processor doesn’t do a great job of mixing everything at this point. You’ll have to get your hands in there to squeeze some of the dough together to make sure it’s the correct consistency. If it holds together like clay, it should be good. If the dough is too wet, meaning sticky, you’ll need to add small amounts of flour to the mixture until you get it right.

Knead the Dough & Cover with Plastic Wrap

Once the consistency it correct, remove the dough from the food processor and knead it with your hands. Be sure to include all the scraps. Do this for a few minutes until the dough holds together and is elastic. I actually had to add a few teaspoons of water as I was kneading because the dough was still too dry. Shape the dough into a ball.

After the dough is ready, cover it with plastic wrap and let rest for 15-30 minutes.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to make pasta dough and why it needs to rest, check out this article:

Cut Dough into Six Pieces

After the dough has had some time to relax, go ahead and unwrap it and cut it into six pieces. To do this, I used my chef’s knife.

Take one piece from the group and wrap the rest back up in the plastic wrap so it doesn’t dry out.

Run Through Pasta Machine

Take the first piece of dough that you cut and roll it into a ball. After that, flatten the ball with your palm and then, with the pasta machine on the widest setting, run the dough through.

Keep the machine on the same wide setting.

After the first piece comes out, fold both sides in on themselves and repeat through the machine.

Repeat the last step once more.

Reduce Machine Settings

At this point, no more folding is necessary. Continue running the dough through the machine and reduce the thickness setting by one click each time.

Do this until you reach the thinnest setting. The dough should be somewhat translucent.

Run Through Cutter

If you’re making raviolis, you are probably finished with the use of the machine. If you’re making spaghetti or fettuccini though, run each piece of rolled dough through the cutting side of the machine.

After it’s cut, you can either hang it like I did or you can create small nests on some paper or a cutting board.

The pasta making is now finished. You can store it or cook it right away. In the future, I’ll be applying this post to recipes. I’ll be preparing a nice fettuccini dish as well as some raviolis.

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If you’re into Italian cuisine, this interview will be of great interest to you. It’ll lead you to an extremely thorough and well thought out website created by a very talented food blogger named Manu. Manu is an Italian native who currently resides in Australia. She comes from a family that loves and has a strong connection with food, so her recipes and helpful tips in the kitchen have been well tested. Besides Italian, Manu shares recipes from other regions around the world, so there’s definitely the potential to do some learning.

If you’d like to broaden your horizons when it comes to what you prepare in the kitchen, stop by to visit Manu’s Menu today. While there, I encourage you to sign up for her newsletter. I did just that a few months ago and can’t even begin to express the amount of great information she packs in each mailing. It’s second to none.

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1. Can you please tell our readers a bit about yourself?

My name is Manuela and I was born and brought up in Milan, Italy by Sicilian parents. My passion for cooking runs in the family and many of my recipes have been passed down from generations. I love all kinds of food, but I obviously specialise in Italian cuisine. I started my blog to spread the concepts of authentic Italian cuisine outside of Italy as I find that Italian food abroad is often misrepresented.

2. Where do you call home?

I moved to Sydney, in Australia, 10 years ago. I love Australia and I consider myself really lucky to live here, so much so that I am naturalised Australian and I consider Australia my “home.”

3. What is it that made you so interested in food and cooking?

Everyone in my family loves cooking (and eating!), so I grew up in a family where we used to take turns in the kitchen and even make meals all together. Cooking to me means “family,” so I have always viewed it as a natural part of my life. Besides, I find it very relaxing.

4. How long have you been sharing recipes, tips and advice on your blog?

I started blogging 5 years ago, but before that I used to give out recipes to friends and family anyway. Let’s just say that “blogging made my life easier,” at least I can just give out a link to anyone who asks!

5. Have you ever had any formal culinary training or are you self-taught? Where have you found the majority of culinary information you use today?

I don’t have any “formal” culinary training. I have learnt the “basis” from my family and then I have expanded from there by practising, inventing and testing/tasting. When it comes to Italian cooking, I don’t usually follow other people’s recipes, but when it comes to other cuisines I always try to get authentic recipes from local sources. And the web is full of talented bloggers from all over the world!

6. What is your favorite part of sharing your recipes and ideas online?

I love to make people happy. My blog is about traditional Italian cooking and I have had many second or third generation Italians write to me to thank me because they found recipes their grandmothers used to make and that had got lost after they passed away. Helping to keep traditions alive makes me very happy.

7. Have you faced any major challenges while preparing food in the kitchen? Is there anything you feel that you need to work on?

During the past 5 years I have learnt a lot. I have conquered techniques that used to scare me, like tempering chocolate or making puff pastry from scratch. That has taught me that there is no need to be scared and that everything can be achieved with a little practice. That said, cake decoration is an area I need to work on! I love decorating cakes, but I would like to be more precise and learn a few tricks.

8. What’s the most difficult thing you’ve faced so far in regards to operating your blog? Conversely, what have you been pleased with?

The hardest part for me is definitely the technical stuff. I am not a computer savvy person and when I started blogging, I didn’t even know what WordPress was! I have improved a lot, but there is still so much to learn! On the other hand, I am pleased with the improvements of my photography.

9. From looking through your site, I see that you write about and share Italian and Indian recipes. How has the response to that style of cooking been from your readers? Do they prefer one type of cuisine over the other?

When I started blogging, I set out with the mission to show my readers what authentic Italian cooking was all about. When you go to an Italian restaurant abroad, you tend to get the idea that we eat garlic loaded dishes and overcooked pasta. 😉 But there is so much more to Italian cooking than that! At the same time, I also wanted to share what I cook for my family, so I started to include dishes from other cuisines too. We eat Indian food often as my husband is of Indian origins, so Indian recipes are very much present on the blog.

I must admit that my readers like both the Italian and the Indian recipes and to tell you the truth the most popular recipe on the blog at the moment is my Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani!

10. Do you cook for friends and family? If so, which do you enjoy more, the actual food preparation or receiving their feedback on your creations?

I am the “official cook” in the family and I love to cook for my friends too. In fact, I never go to someone’s house without food! I love everything about cooking…even deciding what I am going to cook! Getting feedback is always great: I love all kinds of suggestions and ideas!

11. What’s it been like interacting with those who visit your website? Is it rewarding?

That’s the most rewarding thing about blogging. I love it when people find the time to leave a comment on a recipe they liked! It means a lot to me!

12. What gave you the idea that you could start a blog and create a following writing about your culinary adventures?

It all started when a friend of mine saw a few of the food pictures I had posted on Facebook. She had just started her own blog and suggested I do the same. To tell you the truth, I didn’t know anything about blogging at that time, but I thought it would be fun and it would also make it easy for me to exchange recipes with family and friends. I had never even dreamt that my site could be visited by so many people I didn’t know!

13. To date, which has been your most popular recipe with your readers?

As I said before, the most popular recipe is my Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani…followed closely by my Home-made Condensed Milk recipe.

14. What’s your favorite part of cooking and blogging?

My favourite part is the cooking bit hands down. I like the food styling and photography bits too, though that depends on the dish. Some dishes can be very stressful to shoot. Pasta is the one I dread the most! My family and I always eat the food I cook for the blog, so getting it to the table warm is a priority and pasta doesn’t reheat very well. 😉

15. What is it about food and writing that keeps you coming back for more?

For me, it reminds me of who I am, where I come from. Food is a huge part of Italian culture and keeping these traditions alive helps me to stay grounded. It is also a good way to teach my children about our roots.

16. If you had a friend who asked you for advice on how to start their own blog, what sort of wisdom would you offer?

I’d tell them to do it for themselves, as a hobby and to remain true to themselves and to the reason why they are blogging in the first place. Nowadays there are so many new bloggers that start out with a “plan” to make it into a business. I have nothing against making some money out of your blog (I do it too), but when you blog just to make it big and to make money, what you write has no heart.

17. Do you have any favorite cooking related websites that you visit regularly? If so, which ones?

I visit many sites, but Foodgawker is still my favourite! I love browsing through all those delicious looking photos! I find it very inspirational!

18. Where would you like to see yourself in the next year regarding your blog? What are your next steps?

I would love to collaborate with other publications to spread the concept of authentic and regional Italian food outside of Italy. I think Italy has so much to offer in terms of amazing products and recipes and I think it’s a pity that so few of them are actually known outside of Italy. Helping to do that would make me very happy…besides, of course, keeping up the work on Manu’s Menu!

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Today’s interview comes from the heart of Wisconsin. Hannah runs a website called Pints & Pickles and has been writing, photographing and sharing recipes since the latter part of 2015. She has a strong affinity for mason jars and coffee, so you bet you’ll find some interesting ideas on her blog. Hanna frequently cooks for friends during special theme nights and enjoys watching their reactions to her food. She’s creative, curious about new methods of cooking and thrives on the technical aspects of blogging.

Well I’m almost 25 and love to stay busy! I work 40+ hours a week marketing a large food pantry and spend the rest of my time cooking, taking photos and hanging out with my pet rabbit, Ollie. When I get to travel, I love finding breweries to tour and coffee shops. My all time favorite job was being a barista in college and my love for iced coffee has only grown since then.

2. Where do you call home?

I’m 100% a Wisconsin gal. Cheese, Beer and Packers all the way. 🙂

3. How long have you been creating and sharing recipes on your website?

I’ve been creating recipes since I was in college. It’s amazing what you can create while you’re trying to save money, but still wanting to make fancy meals for friends.
I only started my blog a few months ago. I write posts and handle social media platforms at work and really enjoy it so I figured why not do the same thing on my spare time but with a personal interest of mine. 🙂

4. Are you self taught or formally taught? Where have you found the majority of information you use today?

I’d say I’ve learned the idea of making recipes from people around me as well as online. I always loved spending time in the kitchen with my mom when I was younger. My boyfriend, Steven, also loves to cook which is great! We love experimenting with herbs and spices and also experiment with drinks. Since living close to the famous Farmers’ Market in Madison, I’ve become obsessed with pickling. You’ll always find a few mason jars filled with pickled veggies in our fridge.

5. What is your favorite part of being a home cook and food blogger?

I love that I get to be creative! Between coming up with a recipe, photographing the process and editing and posting it online, I love all of it.

6. What do you think is the most challenging aspect of what you do in the kitchen?

Accepting that the finished product might not be exactly what I had in mind. It stinks when you spend a lot of time on a dish and it’s not exactly what you were picturing but that’s okay! Just take some notes and try again. You live and learn.

7. What’s it been like creating and operating a blog like yours? Have you had challenges and successes? If so, can you share some of them?

It’s been a fun process! It’s always hard at the beginning but I’m learning a lot. I always take plenty of photos but would only post one or two of them on my post. I’ve learned that photos are just as important as the writing so now I put in more of my shots, which I think really helps bring the recipe alive.

8. From your website, I can see that you take all your own photography. How did you learn to shoot so well?

I’ve been photographing for many years. I was a photographer for a newspaper which was a blast but I usually photographed people and not food. So I’m having a lot of fun learning and my love for natural lighting has grown even more than before.

9. Do you cook for friends and family? If so, which do you enjoy more, the actual food preparation or receiving their feedback on your creations?

Steven and I have friends over for theme nights where we enjoy drinks while making a unique dinner. I really enjoy making food with others, and then sitting together to tell stories and enjoy the meal. It’s so much fun seeing their reaction to the food as well as see them head back to the kitchen for seconds.

10. What sparked the idea that you could create a following by writing about what you do in the kitchen?

I write and photograph for a living so I thought why not do it for my own interests! I’ve been obsessed with Pinterest for years and wanted to start being a part of the blogging community. I’m learning as I go. 🙂

11. What’s your favorite part of cooking?

The actual process of cooking is my favorite, oh and of course enjoying the food. I have a lot of fun putting ingredients together and learning what works well together and what doesn’t. My favorite is spending my entire Sunday wearing sweatpants and making food.

12. What is it about food and writing that keeps you motivated to continue on in this area?

Once I start something I like to finish it, so I think it’s fun coming home from the grocery store and seeing a variety of ingredients come together to make something delicious. And then to top it off, I get to share it in a post.

13. If you could offer one piece of advice for someone who may be interested in following in your footsteps, what would it be?

Learn as you go. Don’t spend hours staring at your screen trying to make the perfect website right away. Just have fun with it and see where your site takes you. Start off simple and have fun while you grow into a blogging pro.

14. Do you have any favorite cooking related websites that you simply must visit regularly? If so, which ones?

I love visiting Gimme Some Oven. She has great recipes and I also just love her personality. It really comes out in her writing. I’ve also followed A Beautiful Mess for a few years now. They’ve inspired me to be more creative in my photography and I just love their style.

15. What do you think the future holds for you in regards to the culinary and blogging world? Where would you like to see yourself in the future?

I hope to connect with more bloggers in the future and learn from their experiences. I’m so happy to find something that I enjoy just as much as I enjoy cooking. Hoping my skills will grow and I become a blogging pro. 🙂

I’ve never prepared baked manicotti before. Actually, I can’t even remember the last time I ate baked manicotti. Though I’m sure I’ve enjoyed it somewhere down the line, I have no recollection of it. I do, however, recall helping either my mother or Laura pull apart lasagna noodles after they bonded to each other in boiling water. That was always fun. Burning the tips of my fingers in an attempt to peel half hard, half soft, pieces of pasta from one another. If you’ve ever cooked up some Italian food, I’m sure you’ve run into this issue. I think this memory is what scares many folks away from this dish. Those lasagna noodles.

The recipe I’m about to show you below comes from America’s Test Kitchen and is the last in the Classic Sauces & Pasta section. I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the courses so far and if you’re in the market to try your hand at learning many tricks of the trade, I encourage you to sign up for some learning yourself. Every time I successfully prepare a recipe like the one on this page, I get a warm feeling of satisfaction.

The Recipe

I think the primary difference between this recipe and others is the fact that this one uses no-boil lasagna noodles. From what I gather, using traditional ones is a nightmare. I’ll tell you, it didn’t take all too long to put this dish together and if I managed to get it done, I’m sure many of you talented home cooks could do it as well. And probably much better than I ever could.

The first part of the recipe is almost a rehash of the tomato sauce one I already posted. Since there are a few minor differences, I decided to show you all the steps involved on this page as opposed to simply referring you to the other recipe and then asking you to come back. It’s much simpler this way.

Step-by-Step Instructions

As usual, try to prep as many ingredients as possible before things start to speed up. Luckily, this is a fairly straightforward and non-stressful recipe, so you should be okay.

Grate Onion

If you want to learn more about why we grate the onion instead of chop it, I suggest you take a quick peek at my basic tomato sauce recipe. I go into more detail in that post. Either way, go ahead and grate the correct amount of onion. You’ll need at least 1/2 cup worth. Now, don’t go nuts trying to prepare the exact amount. I went over and things turned out wonderfully. Onion is one of those ingredients that shrinks and breaks down, so you almost can’t add too much.

Mince or Crush Garlic

If you like garlic, either crush or mince the 4 cloves. As tasty as garlic is, I decided to pass on it this time because I’ve got a Jiu-Jitsu class to teach tonight and I decided to spare my fellow students. Ordinarily though, I certainly would’ve added it.

Chop Basil

If you have lots of fresh basil, now’s the time to chop it. My basil/parsley mixture has been working well and saving some money, so I did a half and half mixture between the two. Whichever you choose, you’ll need to chop at least 6 tablespoons.

I’m not sure you can see it in the above photo, but the basil is hidden underneath the curly parsley.

Melt Butter – Add Onions & Oregano

In a large saucepan, melt the 4 tablespoons of non-salted butter over medium heat.

Once the butter is completely melted, go ahead and add the 1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano, the 1/2 cup of grated onion and 1 teaspoon regular table salt.

Once all the ingredients are together, cook over medium heat until the onions begin to brown. Here’s a photo about half way through.

Add Garlic

If you decided to go with garlic, add it once the onions are brown. Cook the garlic over the same temperature for 30 seconds to 1 minute. You just want to begin to smell them.

Add Crushed Tomatoes, Sugar & Heat

At this point, go ahead and add both 28 ounce cans of crushed tomatoes and a 1/2 teaspoon of sugar to the saucepan.

Stir everything together. Once the ingredients are stirred, increase the heat to high until the sauce begins to boil. Once it does, reduce heat to medium-low and let simmer, uncovered, for about 15 minutes.

Now, I’ve got a trick for you that will help avoid the initial splattering of tomato sauce all over the place. When you first bring the heat to high, you’ll get a lot of bubbles that will break at the surface of the sauce. Those are the ones that will cause a mess. If you vigorously stir the sauce at this point, you’ll break the bubbles under the surface of the sauce, therefore avoiding the splatter. Once you lower the heat to medium-low, you can stop stirring so vigorously and let things simmer. You’ll still need to occasionally stir, but it’ll be less frequent.

Grate Parmesan

You’ll need 2 cups of grated Parmesan cheese, so have at it. Grate the 4 ounces and set aside for later use.

Shred Mozzarella

In case you’re interested, 8 ounces of mozzarella cheese if half of the traditional package you’d find in the dairy aisle of the grocery store. To get the necessary amount, I simply sliced the entire package in half with my chef’s knife and grated the 2 cups from there.

Mix Eggs

In a small bowl, mix 2 eggs. Set aside for later use.

Chop Parsley

After the eggs are mixed, chop another 2 tablespoons of fresh parsley.

Mix Pasta Filling

This is where things start to get fun. In a medium sized bowl, go ahead and mix the 3 cups of ricotta cheese, 1 cup of the Parmesan cheese, both (2) cups of the mozzarella cheese, both (2) mixed eggs, 3/4 teaspoon of regular table salt, 1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper, 2 tablespoons of chopped basil and 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley.

Set the bowl aside for later use.

Add Basil, Oil, Salt & Pepper to Sauce

By this point, the sauce should be finished simmering. Go ahead and remove it from the heat. Add the remaining chopped basil or the basil/parsley mixture, the 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil and season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir these final ingredients into the sauce.

Soften Pasta

In a 13″x9″ casserole, pour about 1 inch of boiling water. Then, add the 16 no-boil lasagna noodles to the water and let rest for a few minutes until the noodles become soft.

It really doesn’t take very long for these noodles to soften. When mine were finished, there were a few that held on to each other, but really, they were fairly easy to separate. After they were soft, I removed each noodle from the water in the casserole and rested them separately on a few dry dish cloths. Also, I emptied the water from the casserole and made sure it was dry before beginning the next step.

Add Sauce to Casserole

This dish is going to be presented in three layers. The first is sauce, the next is pasta and the last is sauce again, with some cheese sprinkled on top. So, for this step, add about 1 1/2 (one and a half) cups of sauce to the casserole until the entire bottom is evenly covered.

Preheat Oven

This would be a good time to preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Prepare Filled Pasta

Since the pasta is now soft, out of the water and ready for use, go ahead and add 1/4 cup of the cheese filling to each one. I recommend laying all pieces of pasta out next to each other and putting a blob of filling on each one before doing any rolling. This way, you can be sure they are all evenly filled. Also, you only want to apply the filling to the lower portion of the noodle. The top quarter should remain empty to allow for easier rolling.

As you can see, I’m no artist. I eventually used a rubber spatula to smooth everything out, which made life easier.

After all the pieces of pasta had filling evenly applied to them, I rolled them up and added them to the casserole.

I did this in two rows.

As you’re placing each piece into the casserole, be sure that the seam is facing down towards the sauce.

Top with Sauce & Bake

Finally, add the remaining sauce to the top of the pasta and spread it out so you can’t see any of the noodles.

Cover the casserole with aluminum foil.

And bake in oven for about 40 minutes.

Add Cheese & Broil

Once the tomato sauce is bubbling inside the casserole, remove it from the oven and remove the aluminum foil. At this point, turn off the oven and turn on the broiler. Use high heat. Add the remaining Parmesan cheese to the top of the tomato sauce and place in oven, uncovered for about 5 more minutes, or until the cheese begins to brown.

After the cheese has browned, remove the baked manicotti from the oven and let cool for a few minutes.

The Final Product

Anyone who knows baked manicotti, knows how good it can be. This is good.

I like the fact that it’s liberally covered with sauce. It gives it lots of flavor.

After I cut a piece open, it got even better.

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Last night, I was browsing around, looking for various recipes that used cast iron skillets. I can feel it in my bones – I’m going to be doing a lot of cooking with cast iron in the future. Since Laura and I hadn’t yet planned anything for dinner, I decided to search for something that would put our only ingredients to use. Eggs, potatoes, parsley, cheese and a few more small items. When I stumbled upon something called “Frittata Lyonnaise,” my eyes lit up. They lit up especially because this frittata was prepared using a 10″ cast iron pan. I’m not sure what it is, but something inside me tells me that this type of cooking is the wave of the future (or the past). Anyway, I read through the recipe and decided that it was something I could definitely handle.

Lyonnaise

Have you ever wondered what the term “Lyonnaise” means? I’ve seen this word all over the place since I was a kid and always thought it was something extravagant. Really, it’s simply, well…read this:

Lyonnaise cuisinerefers to cooking traditions and practices centering on the area around the French city of Lyon.

Recipes with the terms “Lyonnaise” in it merely translate into something that takes advantage of certain types of ingredients and specific methods of cooking. Ingredients that were local to Lyon and skills that were inherent to Florentine cooks. Extraordinary. I truly enjoy learning about culinary history.

The Recipe

This recipe can be prepared rather quickly. It uses basic ingredients and can be on your table in no time. While there is some prep work, it’s all done early on, so you can watch your creation come to life in the oven without having to concern yourself with tasks that would otherwise distract you.

The original recipe calls for using a 10″ skillet and 8 eggs. I used a 12″ skillet and 12 eggs. I’ve modified the ingredient list to coincide with the changes accordingly. I highly encourage you to give this recipe a try – it looks elegant after it’s plated, but it’s rustic enough to be fun. And any time you get to use a cast iron skillet and an oven simultaneously is time well spent.

Step-by-Step Instructions

As I mentioned above, you want to take care of all your prep work early on. The last thing you should be doing is mixing eggs and other ingredients together as your potatoes over-cook in boiling water. Things come together fast, so it’s crucial that attention is paid to what’s going on.

Crush Garlic

With your favorite garlic crusher, go ahead and crush the 1 clove of garlic. If you don’t have a crusher, you can use a chef’s knife or simply finely mince the clove.

Chop Parsley

For this step, I followed my rule of adding to the amount of parsley that was originally called for in the recipe. I’ve found that chefs never add enough, so I chopped up a tab bit more than the 1/4 cup that’s necessary for this dish.

For this recipe, I used flat parsley. You can use either flat or curly. I merely used what I had in the refrigerator.

Shred Cheese

The original recipe calls for Gruyère cheese, which is wicked expensive. For a weekday night recipe, you’ll most definitely want to substitute for something else. In my case, I had a nice chunk of really good Swiss sitting in the refrigerator just waiting for a moment like this, so I shredded 1 cup of it. In case you’re interested in what you can use in place of the original, here’s a good discussion on the topic:

Chop Onion

For this recipe, I used a huge sweet onion. Since onions reduce in size over heat, I wasn’t worried about it taking over the dish. Go ahead and chop the onion in medium sized pieces.

Dice Potatoes

After scrubbing 5 medium to large sized potatoes, dice them into 1/2″ pieces. Store in a bowl for later use. Don’t worry about using too much in the way of potatoes. Remember, filling up a 12″ cast iron skillet is tough to do. Since I had some leftover Yukon Gold potatoes, that’s what I used.

Measure Out Half-and-Half

Since we’re really taking advantage of the concept of mise en place with this recipe, I even measured out the 1/3 cup of half-and-half.

Boil Potatoes

If you’ve ever dealt with potatoes in a recipe before, you may have bumped into the issue where they were still rock hard after all the cooking was completed. For some reason, many recipe writers either don’t understand or choose to ignore the concept of softening potatoes before cooking them. Since the recipe I used to prepare this dish was created by one of those writers, I decided to use an alternative technique than the one that was presented. To soften and slightly cook the diced potatoes, I placed them into a large pot.

I just covered the potatoes in cold water and placed the pot over high heat until everything came to a boil. I boiled for about 3-5 minutes until the potatoes became slightly soft. I tested their softness by pulling pieces out with a fork and attempting to pierce their flesh. Once I could easily slide my fork into the potato, I considered them cooked enough for use in this recipe. I didn’t over-cook them because by doing so, I would have made them too soft for later on.

Once they were finished in the water, I strained them in my colander.

Pre-Heat Oven & Cast Iron Skillet

This is a double pre-heat step. Go ahead and pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees. Also, on your stove top, pre-heat your 12″ cast iron skillet over medium heat. You’ll want to give the skillet at least 5 minutes of heat before using it. This is standard for cast iron. Also, at this point, you can add the 2 tablespoons of pure olive oil. Not extra-virgin – pure.

Isn’t that cast iron a beautiful sight? I think so. Notice how I swirled the oil so it covered about half way up the sides of the pan? You should do that too. It’ll stop some of the potential sticking later.

Crack Eggs into Bowl

Take the entire dozen eggs and crack them, one by one, into a large bowl.

Mix Ingredients into Eggs

At this point, you can mix the eggs together with the 1/3 cup of half-and-half.

After that, add in the shredded cheese and parsley.

Finally, mix all the ingredients in the bowl thoroughly. You can also add a pinch of salt and pepper for flavor.

Add Potatoes to Skillet

Once the skillet is warm, add the diced potatoes to it.

Cook over medium heat, while periodically turning potatoes with a spatula, for about 5 minutes.

Add Onion & Garlic

After the potatoes have cooked on the stove top for 5 minutes, go ahead and add all the chopped onion and crushed garlic.

Again, turn with a spatula occasionally and cook for another 5 minutes until the vegetables have softened.

Add Egg, Cheese & Parsley

After the onion and garlic is soft, add the egg, cheese and parsley mixture to the cast iron skillet. Evenly pour the ingredients right on top of what’s already in the pan.

When the mixture is in the skillet, cook over medium heat on the stove top for about 2 minutes. During this time, don’t disturb the ingredients. This step firms up the bottom of the frittata.

Place Skillet in Warm Oven

By this time, the oven should be heated to temperature. After the 2 minutes on the stove top, place the skillet on the center rack of the oven and cook for about 10-15 minutes. During this time, you’ll need to keep a close eye on the color of the frittata. Once it’s golden brown, you’ll know to remove it from heat.

The Final Product

I think this dish came out really good. Laura and I enjoyed it very much for dinner last night. Since I liked it so much and since I love cast iron, I think this style of cooking is going to become a theme on this site. Especially since I just found a cast iron recipe book that’s put out by Lodge, the cast iron makers. It’s got some serious recipes in it that I’d love to share.

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I’ve recently reached the Classic Sauces & Pasta section of America’s Test Kitchen online cooking school. This suits me fine because there are two really nice looking recipes I’d like to tackle in this area. The first, which I’ll post below, includes an interesting version of pesto that originated in southern Italy and the second is baked manicotti, which I’m sure you’re all familiar with. I’ll prepare that second one and post my results in a few days.

The pesto used in this recipe stems from Sicily and goes by a few different names. First, we can call it “pesto alla trapanese.” If you don’t like that, you can say “pesto alla siciliana,” “pesto rosso” or “pasta cull’agghia.” As far as I know, if you’re sitting in a Sicilian restaurant and mention any of the above, someone will know what you’re referring to. This pesto is the south’s answer to the north’s pesto alla genovese. This latter type is the green pesto we all love so much.

The Recipe

This recipe is quite simple and doesn’t cost all that much. It’s a nice pasta dish that someone special would love to come home to. Since pesto is a smooth sauce, it’s best used with long, thin types of pasta, such as spaghetti or linguini. I prefer linguini because I’ve eaten spaghetti all my life and at this age, I thought I’d spice things up. Linguini it is.

Step-by-Step Instructions

This recipe doesn’t take long at all to prepare. After you spend a few minutes prepping, the thing that takes the longest is waiting for the pasta to cook. Although there’s garlic involved with this dish, it’s nicely countered by the basil. Also, I thought I’d tell you up front that I added an additional pepperoncini (because I’m crazy like that) and instead of using only basil, I used a basil and parsley mixture. I’m limited on basil these days and I’ve got tons of parsley. Luckily, I enjoy this mixture.

Crush Garlic

It all starts with one garlic clove.

We’ve had this poor little guy sitting on our counter for a while now. I’m surprised it hasn’t begun growing. It’s the perfect specimen to use for this recipe because it was all alone and I didn’t have to crack open a new bulb.

This first step calls for peeling and mincing or crushing the 1 garlic clove. I used my new crusher, but before that, I used the rubber, hose-like, apparatus that came with the crusher to peel the clove. I’ll tell you, that little rubber peeler has come in very handy as of late. It sure makes fast work of removing the skin from garlic.

Mince Pepperoncini

For this step, you’ll need to process your pepperoncini (or two). To do this, cut off the stem, cut the pepperoncini in half and remove the seeds. Once that’s done, go ahead and discard those items and mince up what’s left. Also, I wanted to let you know that you can find pepperoncinis in a jar in the aisle with the pickles and all that. I was a bit confused about what these things were, so I thought I’d share my wisdom, in case you were unfamiliar with these as well.

Grate Parmesan Cheese

Now, grate about 2 ounces of Parmesan cheese. You’ll use half of this to add directly to the pasta later on and the other half to sprinkle on the final dish.

Toast Almonds

I know this recipe calls for slivered almonds, but I had a partial bag of leftover sliced almonds from an earlier recipe I prepared for this site. Since I had the ingredient in the refrigerator, I decided to throw caution to the wind and head over to the stove to toast 1/4 cup of them.

The almonds came out pretty well, but a few at the bottom got, what I’d like to call, “extra” toasted.

Boil Water for Pasta

Now would be a good time to start boiling 4 quarts of water in a large pot for the pasta. Be sure to add 1 tablespoon of regular table salt to the water as it boils. This will flavor the pasta and the water for later use.

Add Ingredients to Food Processor

At this point, go ahead and take out your food processor and add the 12 ounces of tomatoes, 1/2 cup of basil (or basil and parsley), 1 pepperoncini, 1 crushed garlic clove, 1 teaspoon of regular table salt and a pinch of red pepper flakes to it.

Mix Ingredients

Pulse the food processor a few times and let it run for about 1 minute. You want the mixture inside to become fairly smooth. Be sure to use a rubber spatula to clean the walls every now and then. Your pesto should look something like mine below when finished.

After the mixture looks good and smooth, go ahead and run the processor for about another 30 seconds, but this time, pour in the 1/3 cup of extra-virgin olive oil from the top.

Cook & Drain Pasta

Go ahead and add the 1 pound of whichever pasta you chose for the recipe and cook it until it’s al dente. Also, be sure to save some of the flavored water that the pasta cooked in. If your final dish is too thick, you may need to add some water to it to make it thinner.

When the pasta is finished cooking, strain it in your favorite colander and then return it to the original pot it cooked in.

Add Pesto to Pot

Once the pasta is back in the large pot you cooked it in, add the pesto and half of the grated Parmesan cheese to it.

After everything is in the same place, stir it all together. If you notice that the pasta and pesto is too dry, add some of the reserved water to it slowly until things loosen up a bit.

Plate & Serve

If you’ve got tongs, grab them and use them to add some pasta to a bowl. When you do this, twist the tongs as you lower the pasta.

Go ahead and add some of the remaining Parmesan cheese and whatever you’d like to garnish the dish.

The Final Product

I was excited about preparing this recipe because I knew it was going to be fun to photograph. Here are a few shots I got of the final plating. It’s a great recipe – I highly suggest you try it out.

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About IndustryEats

IndustryEats is an active online publication that focuses primarily on lovers of food, cooking and gardening. We write articles that touch on a variety of topics, including those that discuss where much of what we eat comes from, kitchen techniques and tricks, advice from experienced chefs and how to go about truly understanding what it means to cook well. We also post, daily, about how others go about living their lives in the culinary world. We'll introduce guest posts as well as interviews from some of the industry's finest and most experienced.
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